Will progressives ever learn? Probably not

So, my vacation plans to Cyprus have been canceled. Something about the government there seizing everybody's wallet because the country is bankrupt. Another nanny state bites the dust. When will they ever learn?

Never.

Here in the good old USA, there are 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - folks such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Rep. Charles Rangel, California Rep. Maxine Waters and Florida Rep. Alan Grayson. Sanders is the only honest one in the bunch. He comes right out and admits he's a socialist. He'll take all your stuff while telling you tales of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.

The CPC recently released its budget vision. Its wants a 49 percent income tax rate for the nation's highest earners - half of the take. They also want to eliminate most deductions for the rich, and when they die, the progressives want 65 percent of what they leave to their families.

Sound reasonable? Sure, if you're Joseph Stalin.

Of course, the CPC wants to couple its onerous taxation with even more spending. To them, Barack Obama is Jack Benny. Look him up.

Yep, despite the nearly $17 trillion debt, the progressives want an additional $2.5 trillion for "job creation." That means giving tax money to folks they like. It doesn't matter what kind of jobs are created. If you have anything to do with fighting global warming, the progressives want to send you a check.

The CPC also wants an additional $2.2 trillion to spend on science and technology, the environment, income security (that's direct welfare payments), and of course that time-tested money pit "education."

I love the education deal. The USA now spends more money per student than any nation on Earth - but it's not enough. It will never be enough. Kids can't learn without more money. Don't you know that?

Flashback: Eighth grade, 1963. St. Brigid's School, Westbury, N.Y. One nun against 60 working-class kids. Every kid could read, write, do fractions and diagram a sentence. Everybody knew what Congress was and how Kennedy beat Nixon. Nobody had any money. Sister Martin worked for free. I ate tuna sandwiches and apples. So did everybody else. Somehow the nuns educated even the dimmest kids. And I can attest to that, as I was beyond dim.

But back to the CPC.

They do want to cut one bit of federal spending: defense. They want to go back to the 2006 spending levels. Never mind that ardent Democrat and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says that would put the nation in peril. The CPC doesn't care. To them, members of the military are imperialists.

The truth is that the CPC doesn't like America. Capitalism is bad. Share the land. Take from the rich. Power to the people. Abbie Hoffman would have loved these folks.

But they are entrenched on Capitol Hill. Voters put them there. That's democracy for you. Pinheads can achieve power. And the rest of us suffer.